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SEAFAIR: Blue Angels views from today; what you should know about watching this weekend; ship tours continue

Thanks for the photos! While we watched the Blue Angels from Boeing Field today, while others shared views from West Seattle. The top photo is by Robert Spears; below, by David Hutchinson:

Before those flybys, came the takeoff from Boeing Field, where you can see the pre-flight maneuvers by the pilots and crew, if you grab a spot what becomes a very crowded fence south of the Museum of Flight:

It’s free to watch from there, as the crew and then the pilots arrive before and prepare for takeoff – it becomes a very loud spectacle as they fire up the engines and then taxi toward the runway:

But right after that, as soon as you walk north toward the museum’s parking lot, you’ll have to have a wristband to get any further, if you want to watch from the east-facing runwayside fence – a wristband that signifies you’ve paid museum admission (Blue Angels weekend brings special events). You can watch takeoff from parking/pullover areas around Boeing Field, but get there earlier.

Remember that two things are different this year – two things some of those on the fence with us this afternoon clearly hadn’t heard about – the Blue Angels are flying five jets, not six, because of the deadly crash earlier this year; and their popular support plane Fat Albert, which usually flies right before they do, did not accompany them to Seattle because of what was described as a “mechanical issue.”

Tomorrow’s show should be around the same time as today – roughly 1:30 to 2:20 – with the I-90 bridge closed 1:15-2:40 pm. Since the show is meant for the Seafair crowd on Lake Washington, you’ll only see the occasional flyby from West Seattle, as did the people shown in a photo texted to us from Hamilton Viewpoint today:

But that just might be enough, especially for the skyline pass toward the end of the show:

P.S. Ship tours continue this weekend on the downtown and Magnolia waterfronts, though Sunday is the only day remaining to see the biggest visiting member of the Seafair fleet, the Somerset. Today Bill Larson shared a photo of West Seattle Troop 284 on board the Somerset, which led the Parade of Ships on Tuesday: